The Sussex Police Air Operations Unit, popularly referred to by the aircrew's police net callsign, Hotel 900, was a unit of

Sussex Police Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex. H ...

that provided emergency air support in the English county of Sussex. In October 2010, the unit was merged with the Air Support Units of

Surrey Police Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in South East England. The force is currently led by Chief Constable Gavin Stephens. Previously the force was led by Nick Ephgrave who left the force ...

and

Hampshire Constabulary The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England.Hampshire Constabulary, 2012 Retrieved 27 April 2012 The force area ...

to form the

South East Air Support Unit The South East Air Support Unit was a joint consortium established to provide police aviation for Sussex Police, Surrey Police and Hampshire Constabulary. It was formed in October 2010 and gained a single Police Air Operator's Certificate on 1 ...

, which officially commenced operations in April 2011. The unit operated a

MD Helicopters MD Explorer The MD Helicopters MD Explorer is a light twin-engined utility helicopter designed and initially produced by the American rotorcraft specialist McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems. On 18 December 1992, the maiden flight was conducted, initial ...

helicopter based at

Shoreham Airport Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in the parish of Lancing in West Sussex, England. It has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying ...

, with aircrew provided by both Sussex Police and the

South East Coast Ambulance Service The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is the NHS ambulance services trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent (including Medway), Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex (including Brighton and Hove). It also co ...

, and flew sorties at the request of police control at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

, or the joint air ambulance control desk at

Coxheath Coxheath is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of Maidstone. It is mainly centred along Heath Road which links the villages of Yalding and Boughton Monchelsea to the w ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Operations

Hotel 900 was crewed by a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, a Sussex Police constable or sergeant

air observer An air observer or aerial observer is an aircrew member whose duties are predominantly reconnaissance. The term originated in the First World War in the British Royal Flying Corps, and was maintained by its successor, the Royal Air Force. An ai ...

, and a

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

seconded from South East Coast Ambulance Service, who was also trained as an air observer. The last helicopter was an MD 902 Explorer and operated from Shoreham Airport. Operational since February 2000, the Explorer replaced an earlier helicopter which had been in service since 1987. The unit was available for missions from 08:00 to 01:30 Monday to Saturday, and 09:00 to midnight on Sundays, although out-of-hours cover was provided for serious incidents. Hotel 900 completed nearly 1,500 sorties every year, of which almost 25% were for ambulance purposes, with the remainder consisting of police tasks, such as searching for offenders or fleeing suspects, identifying suspect or stolen vehicles, facilitating vehicle pursuits, transport of police officers, and search & rescue.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sussex Police Hotel 900 archive page
on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

Defunct ambulance services in England Police aviation units of the United Kingdom Defunct organisations based in the United Kingdom 2011 disestablishments in England

Operations

See also

References

External links